Introduction (given at the start of Mass by Karen Manor-Metzold, chairperson of the Anniversary Steering Committee)

What were things like 50 years ago when St. Timothy’s first opened its doors? In many ways, those times were very different than what we experience today. Imagine. The archdiocese was faced with the “happy” problem of having far more Catholics than the existing parishes of the area could accommodate. In Norwood, Walpole and Westwood, the Catholic population was growing to such an extent that a new parish was needed, and parishioners from existing parishes were reassigned to this new parish based solely, and definitively, on geographic boundaries.

In 1963, when the doors of St. Timothy’s first opened to welcome former parishioners of neighboring parishes, our universal Church was also in the midst of a larger process of opening her own doors and windows to “let in the fresh air” of the modern world. With the Second Vatican Council, significant change would be introduced to the Church throughout the world. Documents such as Lumen Gentium and Sacrosanctum Concilium taught about the need for “full, active and conscious participation” of the faithful and the call to holiness for all Catholics. In many ways, the new parish of St. Timothy’s was a child of this process of change.

It was amidst this breath of fresh air that the first parishioners and clergy of the newly formed parish of St. Timothy’s came together to form a faith community. Surely they faced significant challenges: acknowledging a sense of loss of the familiarity and comfort of their former parishes; financial and organizational challenges; challenges in uniting and bonding together the members of three separate civic communities. Indeed, these are challenges that sound very familiar to our Church today. Yet these original members seem to have embraced the Vatican II understanding of the Church as the People of God, and parishioners pitched in to do their part in forging a community rooted in the virtues of faith, hope and charity. The parish that we know today is built on the dedicated commitment, diligent work, and spirited prayer that our first parishioners and clergy invested in the new parish. To them we owe a debt of gratitude, a debt we honor through our continued commitment to the work of Christ, both in our parish and beyond our parish borders.

Today, as we draw to a close our observances of this anniversary, we pause to celebrate the faith, hope and charity lived over 50 years, and expressed through our liturgical, catechetical and service ministries. After the homily at today’s Mass, we will be blessing all those who have served our parish in these ministries. We welcome all who have come to celebrate the past 50 years as we look to the future in a spirit of faith, hope and charity.